The Cloud
“We don’t really have weather on Koschei beyond stale recycled bunker air, we do have one Cloud though” -Cheeky Koscheian when asked about the weather on their homeworld. The Cloud is a densely packed orbital debris field that completely surrounds Koschei, making planetfall extremely dangerous except at key points. Anything from destroyed alien orbital defence platforms to Deathless live-fire training areas can be found in the Cloud. The Cloud represents Koschei’s Hostile Space tag in fiction. Characteristics The Cloud covers the entirety of Koschei in a 100 kilometers “thick” shell of debris. The debris field sits in geosynchronous orbit and as such its position is semi-stable, leaving some “landmarks” of The Cloud. The field itself is “dense” as in the space between the objects is a few 100s of meters wide at most, making it so ships can pass through if they are small and agile enough but trying to go through the Cloud with anything bigger than a corvette is near suicidal. The “density” of The Cloud makes it so one has to either clear the debris or traverse the field before any orbital drop or bombardment is possible, forcing anyone to come into knife-fighting range. In addition to that, any vessel in the cloud is almost cloaked by the debris field. As such it is almost impossible the distinguish a wreck from a live ship if engine emissions aren’t detected or a visual contact isn’t established. Navigating the Cloud Now not everyone has the skill or the size to be able to navigate the cloud safely, and that’s why your friends at Deathless Conflict Solutions are maintaining the Cloud AnchorsTM, rings of gravitational generators that act as debris repellents, making for safe and fast transit to the Koscheian planetside. These anchor “tunnels” are set in a stable orbit to keep in a relatively straight line to get from Vechernyaya to the bunker cities found under the Koscheian surface. Operation and control of the Anchor system is based in the Deathless Navy HQ, on Vechernyaya Moonbase. Now some people may want to avoid the traversal fee or mandatory contraband inspection by the Vechernyaya authority. These people may be interested in not being detected while they avoid the authorities, for any number of extremely valid reasons. If the enterprising spacer wishes to do so they can always try for The Cloud itself, granted one has the skill it is feasible. It is by no means safe or recommended but a few have tried before and the debris field is filled with the unfortunate wrecks of ships that thought they could but, in reality, could not. Origins Where does the Cloud come from? The leading theory, backed by evidence found on orbital “dig sites”, is that the main component of The Cloud is actually of alien origin. Indeed, there is evidence of an orbital superstructure or at least a network of ancient space stations of alien design. The full purpose of this structure or network isn’t fully confirmed but the bristling gun-like forms and occasional firing observe from some of the orbital ruins seem to heavily suggest that most of what now makes The Cloud were there for defensive purposes. Writings of dubious historical value (see The Epic of Koschei) seem to corroborate this theory but, due to the Scream, not much else can be done in the way of archives. So after all these years why haven’t the Empire, the Thorg Board for Tourism, or the Deathless cleared it all up? Certainly, they have the means to do so right? Officially the debris has not been cleared due to the effort and danger involved in such a task since there are portions of the former planetary ring which are relatively intact and still sport active automated guns. Even the debris which is less intact may contain unstable and dangerous components. Unofficially the debris is being used as a defensive measure against potential invaders. Hidden amongst the debris are many mines and drones designed to sabotage unauthorized ships. The Cloud also makes for an amazing training ground for the Deathless Navy, where they can practice their evasive maneuvers and damage control in real situations, train as you fight they say, and The Deathless never want it to be said that they don’t train properly. Of note is that the training casualty list is not available to the public. Things you may find in the Cloud! * A Deathless navy Fighter group practicing dogfighting with *real* lasers! * An alien weapons platform somehow still active and waking up to find hostile life-forms, you! * A department of maintenance ship replacing a faulty gravity generator * Traffic in the tunnels, what? There’s a lot of ships coming through you know? * A secret base where weapons test are going on or some other seedy behavior * Leftover mines from previous wars and ongoing DCS Navy drills and weapons tests. * Data Storing banks, nothing like putting your information and documents in the Cloud! Category:Koschei Category:The Deathless